Unnecessary Injuries
by eosdawnaurora
Summary: There's never a lull in the fighting, and taking a moment to breathe and heal is crucial. Prompt - kissing as a tool to shutting up – lost in the 4th ninja war. For Springkink. Naruto is Kishi's.


4Feb  
Naruto, Kakashi/Sakura: kissing as a tool to shutting up – lost in the 4th ninja war

Sakura's hands were on him as soon as Kakashi was in front of her. "Just stand still for a minute while we have cover, this won't take long. I'm glad I found you finally. You should have radioed me – your adjutant shouldn't have had to do it for you," Sakura yelled, as pebbles rained over the top of the earthen wall they were using for shelter. The fighting was literally on the other side. She could hear huge explosions and the resulting horrific cries of pain just beyond, and the ground quaked and shuddered beneath their feet.

While two shinobi guarded them from either side, Sakura unzipped and cut away the slashed material and Kakashi let his flack vest slide back off his shoulders. "This isn't that bad, Sakura. I've had much, much worse and kept fighting," he said, wincing as she pulled the blood-slicked cloth of his shirt back away from the long horizontal wound.

Pushing her healing chakra into the deep gash in his belly, she flooded their scant shelter with its green light. Any deeper and his guts would have been on the broken ground of the battlefield. Her heart thumped hard in her chest, and her throat constricted just thinking about it. She shook her head, hoping he had some idea how much she resented being told not to worry.

"I've heard that line so many times from guys like you. Please let the medics tell you what's bad and what's not, Kakashi-taichou." He should have been on his back as it was, just breathing had to be excruciating; that he was still conscious and moving, was a matter of sheer will on his part.

"You're joking right? There are no other guys like me. And when did you start calling me 'taicho'?" he said, side-eying her as if he were surprised at his new title.

Sakura glared up, grasping for words. Most of her mind was occupied with knitting his flesh back together, and she knew she should just ignore his bravado and his provocation. "Of course it is! I try to be respectful. Stop wriggling, I can't join muscle fibers and blood vessels that are jumping around. Damn it, do you just have to get sliced up every single time? Remember what they taught you in first year - T_he pointy end is not your friend_," she said in a sing-song voice.

"You know, I liked it better when you called me sensei, Sakura," he said looking down at her, his face shadowed enough that what little of his face she could see told her nothing, and what she detected in his voice was troubling.

She felt her cheeks tingle, but refused to believe she was blushing at a time like this. "I think the blood loss is getting to your brain, _sensei_. Are you sure you won't recline while I do this?"

"No. And promise not to be too angry if I run off on you. I just received a report over the radio that Squad 23 found another knot of resurrected shinobi," he said, tapping the earpiece to his field communicator. She could sense his impatience to be back out there, as he glanced at the edge of their shelter and then over to one of the men who had escorted him here.

Something inside of her snapped. "Run off? You are just the worst, most stubborn shinobi I have ever met next to Naruto. Is there some part of the brain that high-level ninja are lacking? We all must have abnormal amygdalae if that's the case. I wonder if anyone has studied that? If so, you must be the worst. No, Naruto is probably worse," she rambled, trying to work faster, heal him more completely before he could make good on his threat.

"Sakura-" he said, his voice carrying a far more serious tone.

Her hands were trembling a little and she took a deep breath, trying to regain her calm. "Sorry. It's frustrating to know you are all out there and be told to hang back and conserve my chakra." She wanted to fight beside him, beside her friends and comrades and help end this war as fast as they could.

Kakashi shook his head at her. "You're doing something vitally important. We all have our roles in protecting our teammates," he reminded. He didn't say that if the worst happened, she was also part of the last line of defense.

"And yours is jumping in front and taking the worst of it," she snapped and her chakra flared a bit, something which was really quite dangerous to her patient. She clamped down on her control and bit her lip hard.

He didn't even seem to notice. "I always come back," he said, unapologetic but firm.

If Kakashi weren't already injured - and her superior - she'd be tempted to beat him about the head like she did to Naruto. "You don't have to try so hard not to. It's no wonder you don't have a girlfriend; having a deathwish is so unattractive."

He laughed at her in his throat, with what she could only describe as affectionate disdain. "I don't have a deathwish."

"I don't believe you," she said, but didn't look back up at him.

"That unpleasant part of my life is over, thank you very much. Why are you so worried about me all of a sudden, by the way?" he asked. She could see his hands restless at his sides, shuffing in and out of his pockets, thumbs hooking over the hems, fingers flexing, playing with a knife or kunai he had concealed there.

Sakura stared back at her own rough, work-hardened hands and followed the intricate paths her healing chakra made across Kakashi's firm abdomen. She could see all of him in her mind's eye; all the way up to the disturbing chakra sink that was his implanted eye, down to his much abused, oft-broken toes. "I'm not worried, I'm pissed off! I hate this war, I hate what's happened to our village and our friends! Yamato and Naruto are gods only know where, and your 'Whatever will be, will be,' attitude drives me up the wall at times like this!" Her chakra wove and tugged and nudged his flesh whole again, as she spoke, as fast as she was able.

"Sakura-"

"Do you know what medics hate the most, besides adult patients who wriggle and whine like five-year-olds?" she grumbled further.

"Sakura-" he repeated, a little louder.

"Unnecessary injuries. Sometimes you just need to know when to quit, sensei. You have to know when to come back and rest, when you've done enough. Kakashi-sensei might be as good as a hundred men but you are not actually a hundred men. Sometimes I just want to grab your shoulders and-"

She wasn't able to finish her complaint. While Sakura's chakra was still deep in his body, Kakashi grabbed her shoulders, tugging her forward by her vest until they stood almost flush. Her hands were trapped against his stomach where she could feel the long ridge of the developing scar. She didn't even see him pull his mask down, but one moment it was there in the next his warm mouth was covering her own, firm and not a little insistent.

Her chakra retreating with the shock, Sakura reeled, her mind and body completely at odds at how to deal with such a sudden invasion of personal space.

"Sakura, shut up. I get it. I'll come back," he said, and was gone.


End file.
